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Teresa Foster: Fracking -- Our health is more important than royalties

Posted:
11/25/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

After reading Mr. Howard's opinion piece "Fracking in the Eye of the Beholder," I had to respond to his statement, "You can feel differently about truck traffic, noise and even emissions if you are getting paid life changing royalties."

How life changing is it when your health has been irreparably damaged, your town has turned into the Wild West and the land and air are so contaminated that it is impossible to remediate? Rather, the question should be: "How much is your health and quality of life worth?"

Take Williston, N.D., in the Bakken oilfields, which is undergoing "boom or bust" economic growth. CNBC reports, "Boomtown is under immense pressure, crushed by truck traffic, plagued by lagging infrastructure and shocked by a surge in violent crime."

Is this the future that Williston had wished for? That people looking for housing can no longer find an affordable place to live because rents have gone sky high to accommodate the out-of-town workers who have come to work in the oilfields? That traffic accidents have tripled over the past year, as overworked and sleep-deprived semi truck drivers with loads of toxic chemicals play bumper cars with local traffic? That prostitution is alive and well to service the influx of oil and gas workers? That accidental and intentional toxic wastewater spills are contaminating the land and water supply? That the population is being subjected to heavy doses of toxic volatile organic compounds and non-VOC emissions -- causing acute and chronic health issues including cancer? Is this what life changing nirvana looks like?

This isn't the vision I have for Longmont nor do the other 25,346 voters who voted 'yes' on Question 300, the Longmont Public Health, Safety and Wellness Act.

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Our health, safety and quality of life is worth far more than life changing royalties.

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